Field
This field is generally related to communication networks.
Related Art
A communication network may, for example, provide a network connection that allows data to be transferred between two geographically remote locations. A network connection may allow different types of data streams to reach their respective destinations.
The network connection may have a particular bandwidth reserved for a particular user. In other words, no other user of the network can have access to the bandwidth reserved for a particular user on a dedicated connection. Reserving may involve associating a particular bandwidth with a user. While still reserving bandwidth, a network may be oversubscribed, meaning that if all users were using all their associated bandwidth, the network would have insufficient capacity. The bandwidth assigned to a connection may be shared among different types of applications and data streams using the connection.
Different types of data streams may have different capacity needs. A user may generate different data streams and have different requirements for transmission of each type of data stream. For example, a data stream may have certain capacity or latency requirements. A user's requirements for the data stream may also vary depending on the time. To deal with changing requirements over time, some communication networks allow a user to change a connection's capacity during a specified time period in the future.
While adjusting connection capacity may accommodate some flexibility, having a shared channel may result in unnecessary competition among different traffic streams.